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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24672634">i’ll be home for christmas</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishtory/pseuds/fishtory'>fishtory</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>pjo christmas 2019 [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Percy Jackson and the Olympians &amp; Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canonical Character Death, Christmas, Christmas Cookies, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Tree, Constellations, DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT READ IT, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt No Comfort, MAJOR BURNING MAZE SPOILERS, The Burning Maze Spoilers, i deleted it because school but now its back, i swear i wont remove it again, no happy ending, reposted bc i am a coward</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 10:20:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,691</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24672634</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishtory/pseuds/fishtory</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>piper loved christmas.</p>
<p>[fanfic i wrote last year, but took it down. now i’m reposting it because i’m not longer a coward.]</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jason Grace/Piper McLean</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>pjo christmas 2019 [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1557136</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>i’ll be home for christmas</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Everybody has that one holiday that they enjoy more than <em> anything else </em> in the world. They live, sleep, and breathe that day and suffer through an entire year waiting for it. And when that fateful day is <em> finally </em> set to arrive, when the anticipation is <em> finally over </em> , they pour their heart and soul into it. They spend weeks preparing for it—baking and shopping and <em> decorating </em> and singing out of key until their throat hurts.</p>
<p>And for Piper, that holiday was Christmas. Except maybe she didn’t spend a lot of time preparing, and she <em> definitely </em> didn’t bake. (Trust me, that was a crime that no one wanted to witness.) The thought of fuzzy socks and hot chocolate and being around the people she loved… it just made her feel all warm and cozy. And maybe it had something to do with her mom—some people considered Christmas to be kinda romantic, with all that making out underneath the mistletoe. But that wasn’t <em> nearly </em> as important as being around family, and family was everything to the McLeans.</p>
<p>Maybe that was why she loved it so much. It was important to remember and celebrate the family members around you when there weren’t many of you left to carry on traditions.</p>
<p>It wasn’t like her dad was always around to celebrate the holiday—yeah, he tried to get the days off, but schedules couldn’t always be changed because filming couldn’t always happen on a different day—and it wasn’t like they had many traditions, either. So she spent most of her Christmases by herself, or annoying Jane with her requests.</p>
<p>But she could remember one year where everything was different. She couldn't have been more than ten years old, maybe younger, and her dad just finished one of his movies. One of his Big Projects, she called them. He’d called his private jet and taken her to some huge store that exclusively sold Christmas trees. Gods, it was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen, with the smell of pine and evergreen and tree sap all around her. And he told her to pick out a tree. So Piper ran through the store clutching her dad’s hand, weaving through the trees. She’d stopped paying attention to the smell of the trees and the crazy, blinking lights and was instead focused on one thing—finding the <em> perfect </em> tree. Because even at ten years old, Piper knew that opportunities like this didn’t come every year. She knew that her dad probably wouldn’t be able to do this again next year, or the year after that, or…</p>
<p>She <em> had </em> to find the perfect tree. She had to show him how much this meant to her, or… well, she wasn’t sure what. That was as far as Piper’s brain would go.</p>
<p>And then she saw it.</p>
<p>The tree was easily ten feet tall—gods, it was the prettiest shade of green she’d ever seen in her <em> life, </em> and it came with twinkling, soft yellow lights that reminded her of stars blinking in those beautiful Northern Lights she’d read about. Delicate paper snowflakes were nestled in its branches, and they could’ve been <em> diamonds </em> and Piper wouldn’t have been able to love it more.</p>
<p>“Daddy,” she whispered, “it’s<em> perfect. </em>”</p>
<p>Tristan McLean smiled back down at his daughter—a beaming smile, the proudest she’d ever seen him wear, and he ruffled her hair. “A perfect tree,” he told her, his voice soft and full of love, “for the perfect daughter.” (It would be years before Piper ever heard his voice like that again.)</p>
<p>They’d flown the tree back home (gods, it sounded ridiculous to her even now) and, with the help of five handymen and epic cheering from Piper, eventually got the tree standing in the house’s main entrance. Then her father retrieved a ladder and, kneeling in front of her, handed her the tree topper.</p>
<p>It was a star the color of the midnight sea—it was dark now, but Piper could tell that when it was lit, that gorgeous blue would fill the entire room.</p>
<p>“This,” he said, “is the star Rigel.”</p>
<p>“Rigel?” Piper repeated, totally mystified.</p>
<p>He nodded. “It’s the <em> brightest </em> star in the constellation Orion. It helps almost all sailors find their way home.” Her dad averted his eyes for a moment, then shifted his gaze back to hers; he placed a hand on her cheek, and the corners of his mouth twitched into a smile. “You’re my guiding star, Pipes. Even when I’m not here, even when I… when I can’t be here for you, <em> you’re </em> what’s guiding me home. You’re the brightest star in the McLean family, even if you don’t see it yet. And one day… who knows? Maybe you’ll find your own star to follow, and you won’t need this one anymore.”</p>
<p>She didn’t understand his words back then. How could she? Her dad was a movie star, the guy that everyone wanted to be with. The guy everyone wanted to <em> be. </em> How could she possibly outshine him? And why would she ever need to follow a star if she never really went far from home?</p>
<p>That night, when she and her dad were laying on the grass outside looking at the stars, he pointed Rigel out to her. It wasn’t the brightest star in the night sky, but in its constellation—in its little family of stars—it outshone everything else.</p>
<p>In the years that followed, the McLeans didn’t always have a tree. But no matter what, that topper was always visible in the main entrance of their house, whatever house they were in. It threw indigo and cerulean and silver around the room, leaving her to feel as if she was at the bottom of the ocean, watching the world from the embrace of the waves.</p>
<p>For almost a year, though, the blue star, the brightest in the Orion constellation, sat on a shelf in her bedroom. Her father was right—she’d found her own guide. In Jason Grace, she’d found the brightest star in the <em> universe. </em> She’d found someone who could pull her back from the edge, someone who was there for her when she didn’t even know she needed him there. Despite the fake memories that Hera put in their heads, Jason knew every thought that went through her head. He knew what made her tick and what kept her from going insane.</p>
<p>Most importantly, thought, Jason understood family. He got just how important it was to her, because it was important to him, too. That year, she didn’t need some plastic star to guide her home. Because she <em> was </em> home with Jason. They spent their first Christmas together that year. She could remember putting together a gingerbread house that’d been sitting unopened for years and icing those cheap Christmas cookies from Walmart. At least, she’d been <em> trying </em> to ice them—Jason kept eating the cookies before she even got a chance.</p>
<p>“You’re eating my art!” She’d cried, reaching forward with her free to pluck the cookie right out of Jason’s before he could get the stupid thing in his mouth.</p>
<p>Jason had leaned back in his chair, his feet resting on the leg of the table in front of him. He took a huge bite out of the cookie and, with his mouth full, retorted, <em> “We share custody of the children, Pipes!” </em></p>
<p>Her dad had run into the room, absolutely bewildered by what he was seeing and hearing. After a short conversation about <em> cookies are not children they are for consumption Piper I thought we discussed this years ago </em>, he’d left with a shake of his head and a loving smile on his face.</p>
<p>Later, they sat in front of the fireplace, clad in fuzzy socks and the disgusting sweaters that Hazel had given them. Draped over their entangled legs was a fleece blanket from the Argo—it’d definitely seen better days, but it had so much sentimental value to her that she couldn’t bear to throw it out. While they watched the cheesiest Hallmark movies they could find, Piper and Jason drank so much hot chocolate he joked that they’d both develop an allergy to it.</p>
<p>“Oh my gods, Frank would <em> crucify </em> you. That’s not how lactose intolerance and dairy allergies work, Jason.” She’d told him, waving in his face as she laughed.</p>
<p>“Maybe,” he admitted, “but it got you laughing.”</p>
<p>“You’re impossible.” Piper lowered her head onto his shoulder, her cheek rubbing against the soft sweater. It smelled like him, and she was almost tempted to call Hazel and thank her. Even if the sweater <em> was </em> the ugliest thing she’d seen in her life (and she’d seen some pretty ugly monsters), it had its uses.</p>
<p>After a moment, his head came to rest on top of hers. “You’re beautiful.” He said in response.</p>
<p>They’d fallen asleep there, on her couch in front of the fireplace. Some Hallmark movie was playing as she drifted off. Piper couldn’t even remember the name of it. She’d been <em> much </em> too busy focusing on the boy snoring gently next to her to think about something like that. Gods, she remembered feeling so at home in that moment, remembered feeling as safe as she’d ever felt. And that she might never feel that <em> amazing </em> again.</p>
<p>This year, like the six before it, the star shone bright in the main entrance to Piper’s house. It rested at the top of a Christmas tree ten feet tall, with lights twinkling like those stars that stood with the Northern Lights. It anchored her to the new world she’d been forced to live in, where she spent most of her Christmases alone. With no big projects to work on, there was plenty of time for them to celebrate together. </p>
<p>Christmas was Piper’s favorite holiday, and as she placed the Rigel on the top of her tree, she was reminded of how important it was to treasure the people you loved Because like Jason, the brightest stars could blink out in an instant.</p>
<p>On Christmas, Piper thought of the brightest star she’d ever known, who might have, one day, been the brightest star in the McLean family.</p>
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